Skip to content

Group and project migration by direct transfer API

DETAILS: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated

With the group migration by direct transfer API, you can start and view the progress of migrations initiated with group migration by direct transfer.

WARNING: Migrating projects with this API is in beta. This feature is not ready for production use.

Prerequisites

For information on prerequisites for group migration by direct transfer API, see prerequisites for migrating groups by direct transfer.

Start a new group or project migration

  • project_entity source type introduced in GitLab 15.11.

Use this endpoint to start a new group or project migration. Specify:

  • entities[group_entity] to migrate a group.
  • entities[project_entity] to migrate a project. (Status: Beta)
POST /bulk_imports
Attribute Type Required Description
configuration Hash yes The source GitLab instance configuration.
configuration[url] String yes Source GitLab instance URL.
configuration[access_token] String yes Access token to the source GitLab instance.
entities Array yes List of entities to import.
entities[source_type] String yes Source entity type. Valid values are group_entity and project_entity (GitLab 15.11 and later).
entities[source_full_path] String yes Source full path of the entity to import. For example, gitlab-org/gitlab.
entities[destination_slug] String yes Destination slug for the entity. GitLab uses the slug as the URL path to the entity. The name of the imported entity is copied from the name of the source entity and not the slug.
entities[destination_name] String no Deprecated: Use destination_slug instead. Destination slug for the entity.
entities[destination_namespace] String yes Full path of the destination group namespace for the entity. Must be an existing group in the destination instance.
entities[migrate_projects] Boolean no Also import all nested projects of the group (if source_type is group_entity). Defaults to true.
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token_for_destination_gitlab_instance>" "https://destination-gitlab-instance.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "configuration": {
      "url": "https://source-gitlab-instance.example.com",
      "access_token": "<your_access_token_for_source_gitlab_instance>"
    },
    "entities": [
      {
        "source_full_path": "source/full/path",
        "source_type": "group_entity",
        "destination_slug": "destination_slug",
        "destination_namespace": "destination/namespace/path"
      }
    ]
  }'
{
  "id": 1,
  "status": "created",
  "source_type": "gitlab",
  "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:45:55.358Z",
  "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:46:27.003Z",
  "has_failures": false
}

List all group or project migrations

GET /bulk_imports
Attribute Type Required Description
per_page integer no Number of records to return per page.
page integer no Page to retrieve.
sort string no Return records sorted in asc or desc order by creation date. Default is desc
status string no Import status.

The status can be one of the following:

  • created
  • started
  • finished
  • failed
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports?per_page=2&page=1"
[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "status": "finished",
        "source_type": "gitlab",
        "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:45:55.358Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:46:27.003Z",
        "has_failures": false
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "status": "started",
        "source_type": "gitlab",
        "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:36.581Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:58.286Z",
        "has_failures": false
    }
]

List all group or project migrations' entities

GET /bulk_imports/entities
Attribute Type Required Description
per_page integer no Number of records to return per page.
page integer no Page to retrieve.
sort string no Return records sorted in asc or desc order by creation date. Default is desc
status string no Import status.

The status can be one of the following:

  • created
  • started
  • finished
  • failed
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports/entities?per_page=2&page=1&status=started"
[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "bulk_import_id": 1,
        "status": "finished",
        "entity_type": "group",
        "source_full_path": "source_group",
        "destination_full_path": "destination/full_path",
        "destination_name": "destination_slug",
        "destination_slug": "destination_slug",
        "destination_namespace": "destination_path",
        "parent_id": null,
        "namespace_id": 1,
        "project_id": null,
        "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:37.390Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:51.867Z",
        "failures": [],
        "migrate_projects": true,
        "has_failures": false,
        "stats": {
            "labels": {
                "source": 10,
                "fetched": 10,
                "imported": 10
            },
            "milestones": {
                "source": 10,
                "fetched": 10,
                "imported": 10
            }
        }
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "bulk_import_id": 2,
        "status": "failed",
        "entity_type": "group",
        "source_full_path": "another_group",
        "destination_full_path": "destination/full_path",
        "destination_name": "destination_slug",
        "destination_slug": "another_slug",
        "destination_namespace": "another_namespace",
        "parent_id": null,
        "namespace_id": null,
        "project_id": null,
        "created_at": "2021-06-24T10:40:20.110Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-06-24T10:40:46.590Z",
        "failures": [
            {
                "relation": "group",
                "step": "extractor",
                "exception_message": "Error!",
                "exception_class": "Exception",
                "correlation_id_value": "dfcf583058ed4508e4c7c617bd7f0edd",
                "created_at": "2021-06-24T10:40:46.495Z",
                "pipeline_class": "BulkImports::Groups::Pipelines::GroupPipeline",
                "pipeline_step": "extractor"
            }
        ],
        "migrate_projects": true,
        "has_failures": false,
        "stats": { }
    }
]

Get group or project migration details

GET /bulk_imports/:id
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports/1"
{
  "id": 1,
  "status": "finished",
  "source_type": "gitlab",
  "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:45:55.358Z",
  "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:46:27.003Z"
}

List group or project migration entities

GET /bulk_imports/:id/entities
Attribute Type Required Description
per_page integer no Number of records to return per page.
page integer no Page to retrieve.
sort string no Return records sorted in asc or desc order by creation date. Default is desc
status string no Import status.

The status can be one of the following:

  • created
  • started
  • finished
  • failed
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports/1/entities?per_page=2&page=1&status=finished"
[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "bulk_import_id": 1,
        "status": "finished",
        "entity_type": "group",
        "source_full_path": "source_group",
        "destination_full_path": "destination/full_path",
        "destination_name": "destination_slug",
        "destination_slug": "destination_slug",
        "destination_namespace": "destination_path",
        "parent_id": null,
        "namespace_id": 1,
        "project_id": null,
        "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:37.390Z",
        "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:51.867Z",
        "failures": [
            {
                "relation": "group",
                "step": "extractor",
                "exception_message": "Error!",
                "exception_class": "Exception",
                "correlation_id_value": "dfcf583058ed4508e4c7c617bd7f0edd",
                "created_at": "2021-06-24T10:40:46.495Z",
                "pipeline_class": "BulkImports::Groups::Pipelines::GroupPipeline",
                "pipeline_step": "extractor"
            }
        ],
        "migrate_projects": true,
        "has_failures": true,
        "stats": {
            "labels": {
                "source": 10,
                "fetched": 10,
                "imported": 10
            },
            "milestones": {
                "source": 10,
                "fetched": 10,
                "imported": 10
            }
        }
    }
]

Get group or project migration entity details

GET /bulk_imports/:id/entities/:entity_id
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports/1/entities/2"
{
    "id": 1,
    "bulk_import_id": 1,
    "status": "finished",
    "entity_type": "group",
    "source_full_path": "source_group",
    "destination_full_path": "destination/full_path",
    "destination_name": "destination_slug",
    "destination_slug": "destination_slug",
    "destination_namespace": "destination_path",
    "parent_id": null,
    "namespace_id": 1,
    "project_id": null,
    "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:37.390Z",
    "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:47:51.867Z",
    "failures": [
        {
            "relation": "group",
            "step": "extractor",
            "exception_message": "Error!",
            "exception_class": "Exception",
            "correlation_id_value": "dfcf583058ed4508e4c7c617bd7f0edd",
            "created_at": "2021-06-24T10:40:46.495Z",
            "pipeline_class": "BulkImports::Groups::Pipelines::GroupPipeline",
            "pipeline_step": "extractor"
        }
    ],
    "migrate_projects": true,
    "has_failures": true,
    "stats": {
        "labels": {
            "source": 10,
            "fetched": 10,
            "imported": 10
        },
        "milestones": {
            "source": 10,
            "fetched": 10,
            "imported": 10
        }
    }
}

Get list of failed import records for group or project migration entity

GET /bulk_imports/:id/entities/:entity_id/failures
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports/1/entities/2/failures"
{
  "relation": "issues",
  "exception_message": "Error!",
  "exception_class": "StandardError",
  "correlation_id_value": "06289e4b064329a69de7bb2d7a1b5a97",
  "source_url": "https://gitlab.example/project/full/path/-/issues/1",
  "source_title": "Issue title"
}

Cancel a migration

Cancel a direct transfer migration. Requires administrator access.

POST /bulk_imports/:id/cancel
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/bulk_imports/1/cancel"
{
  "id": 1,
  "status": "canceled",
  "source_type": "gitlab",
  "created_at": "2021-06-18T09:45:55.358Z",
  "updated_at": "2021-06-18T09:46:27.003Z",
  "has_failures": false
}

Possible response status codes:

Status Description
200 Migration successfully canceled
401 Unauthorized
403 Forbidden
404 Migration not found
503 Service unavailable